Ray missed 4 games. The C's won 3 of the 4, beating the Wizards, Bobcats and the Jazz on the seond night of a back to back.

OTOH it is comforting to see Bradley playing decent offense at the 2 and his defense is special. The chances of Ray being here next year are small so Bradley's time as a starter may come but I would not read too much into those victories as being field by Ray's absence.

I personally don't believe that Bradley has the size to be a 2 guard night in and night out. he can sometimes. I believe his long term future is at the point. Hence, I believe (now that he has value) either he or RR will be gone next year, or bradley will be kept to play as he is playing, mostly one.

I do not believe the tandem of rr/ab is viable as a starting backcourt night in and night out. Bradley handles the ball well. I think he could well start at PG for a team that doesn't require the pg to make all the plays.

I personally don't believe that Bradley has the size to be a 2 guard night in and night out. he can sometimes. I believe his long term future is at the point. Hence, I believe (now that he has value) either he or RR will be gone next year, or bradley will be kept to play as he is playing, mostly one. I do not believe the tandem of rr/ab is viable as a starting backcourt night in and night out. Bradley handles the ball well. I think he could well start at PG for a team that doesn't require the pg to make all the plays.Posted by cole-ely

I tend to agree. Bradley would have a tough time matching up against a lot 2's. You can't teach size.

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : I tend to agree. Bradley would have a tough time matching up against a lot 2's. You can't teach size.Posted by Thesemenarecowards

Maybe someday the opponent will be observed and that there those nightly matchups where the other 2 guard is much much much better than the Cs player..... the schedule has been so kind to the Cs that it continues to delude most posters and fans....... how is Bradley going to do against the Hawks twice, Heat 3 times, 6ers twice, Indy, the Bulls, etc........ when you have a coach for a really bad team saying they cannot be bothered guarding him and they have not played any legit teams for a while and when they do they invariably lose how can it be even remotely possible to suggest that Ray or Bradley is better, etc.? What is better is that they lose with either Ray or Bradley at the 2 so that they can start to rebuild.

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : If you actually read the posts most people are not saying we are better without Ray. Most people are saying we are better with giving Bradley more minutes. Which are two entirely different things. Posted by snakeoil123

Well, some of you are reasonable in that. Others really are saying we are better with Bradley and that we are 8 and 1 without him playing.

I agree with Ray coming off the bench next year. I think he should start this year and his minutes should be managed to about 25 to 30 with Bradley and Pietrus getting more minutes. I am in the camp that says messing with the heads of the Big3 (4?) is a mistake and like we manage KG's minutes (he religiously comes out after 7 minutes of the first and 3rd quarters), I think we should religiously manage Ray's minutes......but we should start him and let the team chemistry not get messed with like it was last year with the Perk trade (I'm not opening the debate on the trade itself, just recognizing that the chemistry is sensitive for the vets).

One drawback I can see to the Rondo & Bradley tandem is their lack of size. Might be a bad matchup some nights. Posted by breaktime

Yes, this is a problem. the biggest problem would be outside shooting. doc/danny have had YEARS to work on the ray as 6th man project that only makes common sense.

The GOOD thing about bradley-rondo is that if you could get rondo to quit gambling for steals on D is that you would have two of the best defensive players at the 1-2 position in the league who can also sprint- so you could theoretically wear out a middle aged or middling point guard and screw up another team's offense initialization to the high heavens, probably have our 3-4-5's intercepting passes being made by the wrong guys on the other team since the PG was hassled to death and gave the ball up and end up with fast break points for rondo and bradley.

so it COULD work if you could keep the tempo medium and get some fast break points. half court sets with avery-rondo are not going to go great- all burden on pierce kg, bass to score and that's easy for other teams to clump up on and clog lanes.

so it has some potential but probably too late to work on it in this short season as something to do heading in to the playoffs. it's a real shame and another notch in the talent management gaffe belt for doc-danny. when a coach is blind to a fact, usually the GM has a chat with them. ray should have been sixth man arguably after they won the cup in '08 and we observed ray heading into the coffin for a LONG stretch of that playoff run......

The major problem with Ray Allen in the game is that the offense revolves around him and slows their game plan dramatically. Plus all the other things, such as. Can't pass, loses the ball too much, hardly ever goes to the hoop, no defense, etc. Did I miss anything????? Oh yeah, he only shoots three pointers if it is the perfect shot.Posted by celticsince1958

Did you miss anything? Well let me see.... they have only played lousy teams since he has been out highlighted by one coach that stated specifically that they could not be bothered guarding Bradley......... having 2 players on the floor that are completely useless should show over the coming 10 days when they play the Heat twice, the Bulls, Indy, the 6ers, the Hawks, etc........ you cannot make general assessments about specific issues until they actually play a good team or 6........ please try over time to look at things completely internally from the Cs perspective as if everything they do is as a result of something they do and recognize that the competition has something to do with it... so when you play several of the worst teams in the league and Bradley has some goods please at least make a subtle attempt at recognizing this for what it is worth...

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : I think we should religiously manage Ray's minutes......but we should start him and let the team chemistry not get messed with like it was last year with the Perk trade (I'm not opening the debate on the trade itself, just recognizing that the chemistry is sensitive for the vets).Posted by Celtsfan4life

Maybe you need to break into Doc's office and point this out to him- maybe with poster board and a marks-a-lot in really big block letters, because doc just doesn't get it.

Ray's minutes have actually consistently trended slightly UPWARD as we got him, never more than last year. He should have been 32 minutes starting in 2009 and less than that now, 28-30 at the most. that's IF you want to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

but what the hell, it's too late to start any of that now. i'd predict it would be a miracle if doc would adjust ray's minutes at all coming off the injury. look for it to be the same exact minutes until he breaks again. doc is so hard headed he'll even play coffin-ray in the playoffs the same amount of minutes when he's shooting 1-11. this is just what doc does

In response to "Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo.....":

cant wait to see the Celtics v Heat on Sunday. i want Rondo and Bradley to switch duties tho, with Rondo on Wade and Bradley on Chalmers. i want this bc 1. Rondo is taller than Bradley, more size for Wade 2. Rondo will take a challenge against a superstar, we all kno this. 3. Chalmers is still young, and not the best ball handler, Bradley might cause him fits. its a shame Pietrus wont be available for Lebron.
Posted by JamezHill24

Good points... I agree 100%. I really like what I am seeing out of the C's lately and I am optimistic about what the team is setup to do this summer. Right now, I think Miami is the only team in the east the C's will not be able to win a 7 game series against. I hope I am wrong, and I hope this game gives me reason to have a glimmer of hope

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : I tend to agree. Bradley would have a tough time matching up against a lot 2's. You can't teach size.Posted by Thesemenarecowards

AB's draft profile lists him at 6'3.25" in sneakers (and all nba players play in sneakers last time I was watching) with long arms that give him an 8' 2.5" standing reach and a 37.5 inch vertical - the point is, he can play taller than his height. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - while he may never become it, his top potential would be as a joe dumars type player.

" Go easy.... I suggested (wanted) Rondo moved because he can't shoot and has VALUE......"

No, you did not "suggest" it. You went on a relentless one-note trollish campaign for post after post, and you wound up on many people's ignore list as a result. Had you simply suggested it once or twice and moved on, things would be different.

Maybe I was wrong and the problem was with the older guys....

Ya think? The fact is you weren't right and you weren't wrong. Rondo was in fact part of the problem at that point, he has raised the consistency of his game since then which is awesome but the team still has a long way to go. But there were other problems too which playing Bradley has revealed. That's why your tirades and simplistic solutions (get rid of Rondo) were so frustrating...though you were hardly the only one. I actually would have supported a Ray Allen trade, an maybe a Rondo trade for a great value in return (NOT soft/old Gasol), but now that we're past the deadline it's time to rally around the team. Or folks can root for them to lose like Dudder.

I do think at this point that Allen would be best coming off the bench when he gets back, but still playing some key minutes especially in crunch time situations. I hope Doc has the guts to have that talk with him.

As for Dud, he's not someone I engage with as he's just too absurdly negative, but the fact is he's right that we haven't played many good teams during this stretch. Coming up we'll find out what we're made of as we need to win the division to do much in the playoffs. This should make for some really interesting games.

I'm proud of KG and the guys for stepping up and Rondo/Bradley look way better than I thought together, I was wrong about that - though I do think they will struggle against bigger backcourts.

" Go easy.... I suggested (wanted) Rondo moved because he can't shoot and has VALUE......" No, you did not "suggest" it. You went on a relentless one-note trollish campaign for post after post, and you wound up on many people's ignore list as a result. Had you simply suggested it once or twice and moved on, things would be different. Maybe I was wrong and the problem was with the older guys.... Ya think? The fact is you weren't right and you weren't wrong. Rondo was in fact part of the problem at that point, he has raised the consistency of his game since then which is awesome but the team still has a long way to go. But there were other problems too which playing Bradley has revealed. That's why your tirades and simplistic solutions (get rid of Rondo) were so frustrating...though you were hardly the only one. I actually would have supported a Ray Allen trade, an maybe a Rondo trade for a great value in return (NOT soft/old Gasol), but now that we're past the deadline it's time to rally around the team. Or folks can root for them to lose like Dudder. I do think at this point that Allen would be best coming off the bench when he gets back, but still playing some key minutes especially in crunch time situations. I hope Doc has the guts to have that talk with him. As for Dud, he's not someone I engage with as he's just too absurdly negative, but the fact is he's right that we haven't played many good teams during this stretch. Coming up we'll find out what we're made of as we need to win the division to do much in the playoffs. This should make for some really interesting games. I'm proud of KG and the guys for stepping up and Rondo/Bradley look way better than I thought together, I was wrong about that - though I do think they will struggle against bigger backcourts. Go Celts!Posted by BostonTrollSpanker

"Let me be clear"..... Im so sorrrrry that my opinion has offended you... If you like, maybe I can borrow AIR FORCE ONE and go around telling everyone how sorrrrry I am for having an opinion on a sports board !!!Just tell me if we can hit the "restart button" !!!!

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : "Let me be clear"..... Im so sorrrrry that my opinion has offended you... If you like, maybe I can borrow AIR FORCE ONE and go around telling everyone how sorrrrry I am for having an opinion on a sports board !!!Just tell me if we can hit the "restart button" !!!!Posted by Bill-806

Its not about your opinion and no one is saying that so please stop with whole "woe is me" stuff. The point is you did a complete flip flop... You were absolutely wanting to get rid of rondo in your particularly annoying caps and bold letters.....

In Response to Re: Interesting, even with all the injuries the Celts are playing better ball with Bradley & Rondo..... : "Let me be clear"..... Im so sorrrrry that my opinion has offended you... If you like, maybe I can borrow AIR FORCE ONE and go around telling everyone how sorrrrry I am for having an opinion on a sports board !!!Just tell me if we can hit the "restart button" !!!!Posted by Bill-806

i mean you had to expect this..you went on a 3 week tirade absolutely destroying Rondo, laying ALL the blame on him, acting like he was the worst point guard ever and trading him would solve all of our problems. only Fierce went crazy more than you did.

then all of a sudden u pull a 180. gotta expect some people to get on you a bit.